Tis the season, right?
by maryaun
Summary: It's Holly and Gail at the Peck family Christmas party, yay!


**My apologies, this story is riddled with errors. I am a complete novice when it comes to this stuff, especially third person, which i am not even sure this is anymore, kind of got worse as time went on. If anyone wants to help correct this story, please PM me, otherwise i hope you can follow and enjoy it in the way it was intended. Merry Christmas.**

**This is a one-shot! Let me know what you think.**

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The Peck family Christmas party had always been one of the social events of the year for the Officers at Fifteen. Well, for those invited anyway. Chris and Dov were the only exceptions. As Inspector Peck always said, "I'm not having those smelly boys of my daughters anywhere near my 43 year old brandy," and each year his statement remained the same but the age of the brandy would increase, sometimes by more than one year at a time, however, this never seemed to deter Chris and Dov from gate crashing time and time again.

The Peckmas Party, as it was so famously called, was a chance for everyone across all divisions to cut loose, get pissed on eggnog and play Police Dignitary Guess Who, all while the officers from Fifteen placed bets on which rookie would vomit first in Superintendent Elaine Peck's favourite vase. But it was not all fun and games for everyone; for Gail, who had attended these parties since she was a child, it was not her favourite pastime. In fact, she hated it and everyone knew it.

Since the age of eighteen, every year Gail would hang out behind the Christmas tree all night, where she would drink a ridiculous amount of champagne, and eat copious amounts of candy canes. So much so that she would pick them off the tree one by one until only one remained, in fact she made a point of doing this. It was her yearly Christmas ritual. It didn't matter if her friends had attended the party, she would still always hide away from everyone; but mostly it was a way of avoiding all her fathers old disgusting police friends that would grab her ass every chance they got. Tonight, Gail had decided everything was going to be different, or at least that's what she had told her brother, she just didn't know in what way.

Gail stood with her back to the fireplace and waited for the start of the police zombie apocalypse, while she played Wolfenstein on her phone to pass the time. Elaine Peck, like always had picked out her entire families festive outfit, to Gail's overwhelming dismay. It was Elaine's own Christmas party tradition, and a big drawer card for those in attendance. No one would miss the chance to see the normally serious family make fools of themselves, knowingly.

_Buzz. Buzz._

Elaine walked out of the kitchen, tea towel in tow, and saw her daughter lazily kicking her feet against the brick step of the fireplace. "Sweetheart, would you make yourself useful and answer the door for me please? It's probably the caterers with the extra hor d'ourves" she said as she noticed the antlers strategically placed on the mantle behind her daughter's head.

Between takedowns, Gail looked at her mothers matching woolen jumper and couldn't help but role her eyes and replied with animosity "Yes, mother, if you insist."

Elaine was unimpressed by her daughter's apparent lack of enthusiasm, and Gail knew it by the evil look her mother had momentarily given her. Gail lived to drive her mother slowly insane, but she had always made sure to keep a safe distance from what Steve would call _Elaine's Radius of Death._

"Don't forget your flashing antlers, sweetheart" Elaine said as she turned away to leave her daughter, who sarcastically responded, "No, I wouldn't want to do that would I?"

"That girl will be the death of me," Elaine had mumbled as she made her way back to the kitchen.

Disgruntled, Gail pushed off the mantle with her shoulders, making sure to take her antlers with her. As she approached the front door she placed the antlers on her head and adjusted her sweater. "Fuck this fucking night and everything about it. Merry fucking Christmas!" she said to herself before she opened the door.

"Deputy Commissioner you're early" Gail stated as the tall man pushed himself past her.

"That's no way to greet one of your families oldest friends, Officer Peck, give us a hug darling," he said. He didn't seem to care about the look of horror on the young blondes face; he went in for the hug anyway.

"Sir, with all due respect, kindly take your fucking hands off my fucking ass," Gail said softly, before she welcomed his wife inside. "Good evening ma'am, nice to see you again."

Gail smirked and closed the door behind them, making sure to walk away in the opposite direction.

Gail was very pleased with her new found conviction. "Totally worth getting fired over. I think I deserve a drink," she quipped as she saw her mother edge backwards out of the kitchen, "or five," she added.

It was around thirty minutes later, when Holly stood on the front step of the Peck family home, a place she had never anticipated ever being. Holly hadn't seen Gail for 6 weeks. Since the night of Noelle's and Sergeants Best's wedding to be exact. That elusive night when Gail had asked Holly to be her plus one. The very same night where Holly had kissed Gail in the cloakroom, then immediately ditched her after to go dancing, a moment she had now told her work colleagues many times she had regretted. Besides a few text messages the following day, all communication between them ceased to exist thereafter.

Gail had been working at the precincts front desk the day after the wedding when she was called into sergeant Best's office, where Detective Callahan proceeded to tell her she was going undercover for a few weeks. In the minutes before she had to leave for her assignment she had given Dov Holly's phone number and asked him to call her to tell her why she wouldn't be responding to her new friend for a while, but little did she know Dov never got around to it, which unintentionally had made Holly slightly crazy for two weeks, the wrath of which Holly then inflected onto her colleagues. That was when Holly decided she may as well give up on her new friendship with Gail so she stopped talking about her and deleted Gail's phone number from her phone. It was just by coincidence that Holly had ran into Traci at the morgue vending machine a week prior to the party, and had learned then of Gail's whereabouts. Gail had just got home the night before. "She hadn't told you?" Traci had asked before Holly retreated back to her lab quite embarrassed.

When Holly had rang the Pecks front doorbell, her date asked what they were doing there, to which Holly replied "Consolation for being good at my job," but this wasn't before the woman called her Holby for the second time that evening. A fact Holly never bothered to correct her on.

The young woman didn't seem very impressed when she scanned the view around the house. "Seems like more of a punishment to me" she said and Holly rolled her eyes when the woman bent down to tie her knee high boots. "You are insufferable" Holly said under her breath, and the woman asked what she had said, but Holly ignored her.

Holly and her date had just entered the house, when Holly immediately said was going to go find the cloakroom, and left the woman to her own devices. But first Holly walked over to the Christmas tree and placed a gift under it for Gail. Whether or not it was a parting gift was yet to be determined. It was only moments later when Holly noticed her date flirting with one of the waiters. That's the last time she would take advice from her colleagues and invite a date to make someone jealous, she had told herself quietly.

Traci had watched Holly smile and shrug in what looked like relief, as she stood by the Christmas tree alone. After a few minutes Traci began to approach her and when Holly saw Traci on her way over to her she cleared her throat in anticipation. "Hey there, Merry Christmas" Traci said, as she offered Holly a glass of wine, which Holly kindly accepted. "What are we looking at?" Traci asked.

"That would be my date, flirting with the waiter," Holly pointed. "Now she has her hands down the back of his pants," she added.

"Subtle." Traci said, and laughed cautiously.

"I know, right?" Holly chuckled.

Traci quickly apologised to Holly for any awkwardness she had created last week when they spoke at the morgue. "It's just that Gail doesn't have many friends," she said, to which Holly replied, "I can see why. She doesn't exactly let people in does she, I mean she didn't even bother telling me she would be out of contact."

Earlier that week Traci had mentioned to Dov about her run in with Holly, and he had confessed that he was supposed to give Holly a message. "Gail is going to kill me isn't she" he had said. "Big time" Traci had laughed before acting out exactly how it was going to go down. Traci quickly explained to Holly what Dov had failed to do before she left Holly at the Christmas tree to try and save Steve from his mother. "Thanks for letting me know" Holly said as Traci walked away.

Moments before Holly had set off to find the cloakroom, Gail had stolen a wine glass and a couple of bottles of Chardonnay from the bar and made her way to the billiard room. Elaine had watched her daughter commit this act of thievery and almost took off after her, but she didn't have the time to deal with Gail's social ineptness when all the guests were trying to talk to her, "Your sister is being weird again" she politely whispered as she leaned over to Steve who was standing next his father. They both nodded in agreement as Traci approached them.

"Just as long as she hasn't gone to let those two fools in secretly through a window somewhere" Inspector Peck said, as he welcomed Traci with a solid handshake.

Gail practiced her around-the-back billiard shot technique numerous times before she saw someone's shadow make it's way across the billiard table. "You're in my light" she said, quietly agitated.

"Can you direct me to the cloak room?" the person asked and Gail instantly recognised their voice.

"Lunchbox? I mean Holly?" Gail said a little flummoxed.

"At least someone knows my name," Holly mumbled. She was taken a little by surprise and it would take her a few more steps forward towards the billiard table headlight before she could completely confirm it was Gail. "I don't have my glasses on, I can barely see you," she said as she slowly made her way around the table. She touched Gail's forearm and gave her a kiss hello on her cheek. Gail was somewhat stunned to see Holly there in front of her, and at a Peckmas party of all things, and she couldn't seem to wipe the stunned look off her face. "Surprise!" Holly said, amused at Gail's lack of hospitality.

It was only four days ago at one of two mandatory therapy sessions that Gail had told the therapist about how a _chick kissed her, _as she so delicately put it. "I am not switching teams," she had said. Two days later at the second session, Gail surprised herself and her therapist when she had brought it up again, admitting she had thought about the kiss more the once over the past five weeks. "And what do you think that means?" the therapist had asked. "Isn't that your job?" Gail had quipped, and the therapist had recognised Gail's obvious annoyance at her broad question, as Gail retreated back into her shell.

Gail stood half a meter away from Holly, and it was hard for her not to notice the effort Holly had put into her appearance as she looked her up and down; Holly had made sure she looked far more classy than she had at Noelle's wedding all those weeks ago. She wore a black knee high cocktail dress, with red heels, with a matching long dark red coat. "I can see you fine, you look very beautiful," Gail said before nervously adjusting the antlers on top of her head, very aware of how silly she must have looked.

"Why, thank you!" Holly said and she paused momentarily, "and you look..."

"Ridiculous! Holly, I look ridiculous!" Gail quickly responded, not being able to contain her laughter.

Holly stared at Gail with quiet admiration and told her she looked as cute as a button. "You remind me a bit of Darcy from Bridget Jones Diary with that sweater on" Holly said to which Gail replied "Well at least at you think I'm handsome."

"When did I say that exactly?" Holly asked and Gail proceeded to tell her it's naturally implied whenever you refer to Colin Firth.

Holly watched as Gail laid the cue down on the table and handed her the champagne bottle, urging her to have some. Gail knew that Holly would need to catch up with her if she was going to continue to be around her.

Gail took her buzzing phone out of her pocket and Holly watched as she laughed at what she read. "Do you want to see something really amusing?" Gail asked.

"Always" Holly replied, at which point Gail grabbed her friend's hand and the remaining bottle of bubbly from the edge of the billiard table and pulled her out of the room.

Gail didn't let go of Holly's hand as she lead her up the mammoth spiral staircase and Holly couldn't help but look directly at the sight in front of her, which happened to be Gail's butt in her tight leather pants. Holly shook her head, lifted her eyes up and focused on the family photos that lined the wall of the stairs.

"Bit of a dork in high school were we?" Holly laughed. Gail wasn't very amused by her friend's flippant remark and Holly watched her tightly squeeze her hand, to the point where she had almost tripped up the steps from the obvious pain.

Holly stopped and took in her surroundings for a moment and said "So this is Gail Pecks room," she paused and Gail reassured her it was her old room. "I can't believe I'm in Gail Pecks room," she said excitedly. Holly saw the look of confusion on Gail's face. "What?" Holly said, "Isn't that what all the boys say?" she smirked.

Gail glared at Holly for a second and gestured for her to come over to the window with her. Gail, still with a bottle of champagne in hand, hopped through the window and over the windowsill and looked at the ladder she had placed earlier up to the first level roof. Holly kicked her heels off and followed Gail out. "How very Dawson's Creek of you" Holly said when she noticed the ladder popping up from the roofs edge.

As Gail took a seat on the roof, she laughed and said, "I highly recommend you never say anything like that ever again, or you will never pull again." Red faced, Holly nodded in agreement. "Not that I ever pull anyway" she mumbled under her breath. Gail couldn't help but chuckle as she pretended not to hear what Holly had said.

Gail had taken a deep breath in before she suddenly flinched. "What happened here?" Holly had asked before proceeding to inspect Gail's cheekbone with both hands.

"Never tell a hooker you're not going to pay her" Gail laughed, as she slowly leaned into Holly's touch, "your hands are warm" Gail said, before she opened her eyes wide and pulled her face away from Holly's hands. "I'm a bit drunk," she said quickly, and Holly acknowledged her awkward exchange with a smile.

After they sat in silence for a few minutes looking at the Christmas lights across the street, Gail saw Holly check her watch, and she asked her if she had to be somewhere. "No, I'm just waiting to see what is so funny about being on a roof," Holly said. She suddenly grabbed Gail's arm when she saw Gail move slightly towards the edge of the roof, and she held on tightly as Gail peered over.

"Here they come," Gail laughed, and Holly pulled her back. Gail proceeded to tell Holly how Chris and Dov weren't allowed into the party and how Gail had always let them climb through her bedroom window, to her father's ultimate dismay.

As Dov put his hand on the the final rung of the ladder, he had heard Gail say Holly's name and immediately whipped his head up and saw a brunette woman sitting next to Gail laughing. Her eyes came in contact with his as he stepped over the top of the ladder, and she saw him take a big gulp. "Shit! Holly!" he exclaimed. Dov looked at Gail and saw the confusion on her face. She shifted her gaze toward Chris who shrugged his shoulders in ignorance as he stepped onto the roof.

"You must be Dov" Holly said, and she watched him look back at her in terror. "Do you have a message for me" she laughed and she looked back at Gail whose hand had touched her forearm. "What do you mean?" Gail whispered, her face all scrunched. "What does she mean, Dov?" she asked sternly, her full attention now squarely on Dov's noticeable quivering lip. She watched Dov slowly creep his way along the wall of the house toward her bedroom window.

She slowly stood up and put her hands on her hips and said "why are you so afraid of me right now?"

"Despite the fact you are wearing flashing antlers that make you look like the devil?" Dov said, and he looked at Holly who was practically rolling around on the roof in pain from laughter. He looked back up at Gail who quizzically scratched her head, before her eyes popped open and he knew he was busted.

As the blood drained from his face, Gail held out her hand to Holly and she pulled her up. "How long had you thought I was ignoring you for" she asked and Holly lied, though she was still laughing. Gail saw Dov out the corner of her eye, as he started to make his escape through the window. Gail had jumped through the window after him as Holly lugged her coat onto Chris and hopped through the window herself. Gail had only made it a metre out her bedroom door because Dov was nowhere to be seen. As Holly straightened up and adjusted her dress she looked up to find Gail staring at her. "You look really beautiful," Gail said and Holly told her she had said that already.

"You however still look ridiculous," Holly grinned.

Gail opened and closed one eye repeatedly, which made Holly ask if she was having a stroke. "I thought for a moment maybe you were a mirage or something," she said before shaking her head. "I think you're drunk, officer" Holly stated, to which Gail replied, "I think you may be right, nerd."

When Chris disappeared from her room, Gail had decided it was the perfect time for a walk and find Dov. Gail assured Holly that she wasn't going to kill him, only slightly maim him. As Holly followed Gail down a long hallway, Gail had asked Holly again how long she had thought she was ignoring her. "I know you lied" Gail said, as they both peaked into Gail's fathers study and Holly casually said "about five weeks".

"Five weeks?" Gail exclaimed and she apologised telling her it was one of the more unfortunate parts of her job. "I'm sorry I didn't contact you when I got back, I just got distracted with work, debriefs, mandatory counseling sessions" she said as the turned into another hallway.

"Hey losers" Holly heard Gail yell, and her eyes found their way to what Gail was looking at. Holly laughed at the sight of her date being felt up by the waiter she had seen the woman with earlier.

"Holby!" the woman exclaimed. Holly grabbed Gail's hand and she pushed past the woman and yelled "My name is Holly for Christ sake! Is Holby even a name?"

Gail was completely dumbfounded by her friend's sudden outburst, but Holly had soon started laughing as they turned around a corner. "Who the hell was that?" Gail had asked. "Just my date," Holly chuckled.

As time wore on, Gail was starting to get tired from all the walking around and Holly suggested they go back down and join the party, but not before collecting Holly's heels from Gail's bedroom. As Gail went to pick up Holly's heels next to the bedroom window, she noticed Dov lying on her bed. "There you are, you bastard!" she said and she jumped on top of him, making sure to knee him in the groin.

"I thought you said you were just going to maim him," Holly said as she took the bottle of Chardonnay from his hand, because he was about to drop it when he grabbed his junk.

"Hmm, doesn't mean I think he should have kids some day." And with that Gail got off of him and handed Holly her heels and coat and they started to make their way downstairs. As they got to the bottom of the staircase Holly told Gail it was probably time for her to go and she watched Gail's look of happiness turn to sadness. "Who is going to protect me from all the old men who want to grab my ass?" Gail whimpered. "You're adorable" Holly said. It was obvious to Holly that Gail was annoyed, but Gail started to lead her through all the people anyway and towards the front door.

Elaine saw her daughter out the corner of her eye, and sighed. "What, was she beaten up or something?" she said to herself, a comment on Gail's now disheveled appearance. Elaine was just about to follow her, as the Deputy Commissioner interrupted her.

Gail stood across from Holly who had leaned against the verandah railing "Thanks for keeping me company tonight, much better than hanging out with the Christmas tree," Gail said and Holly thanked Gail for having her. She told Gail to thank her mother for the invite, "not that she knows who I am" she stated and Gail pulled Holly's coat up over Holly's shoulders as Holly stood up straight.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" they both could hear chanted and their attention was brought to Chris and Oliver standing by the front door.

"Why are they saying that?" Holly mumbled as she looked back towards Gail who had just noticed the mistletoe above them, so Holly looked up to see what she was looking at. "Yeah right! It's not even.." Holly said before she found Gail's lips on her own. Gail had only meant for it to be a chaste kiss, she slightly pulled back after their lips first touched, and Holly noticed her retreat, but Gail soon found that her hand had traveled around to the back of Holly's neck and she repeated the action with more aggression before breaking away. Gail watched Holly's eyes gradually open as she sucked in her bottom lip. Holly looked into Gail's blue eyes and chuckled. "Gail, it's Holly," she said.

Gail stepped back in wonder and quipped, "I know who you are you nerd," to which Holly laughed.

"No, it's not mistletoe" Holly giggled as she pointed above them. "It's Holly," she repeated and now they both were laughing.

Holly observed Gail's happy mood suddenly fade. "Mother!" Gail said loudly as she turned to Holly, now seemingly mortified at the current situation. "This is my friend Holby," she laughed and Holly proceeded to punch Gail in the arm.

Elaine stepped towards Gail, and watched in disbelief at her daughters apparent smugness and Holly had began to notice the cartoon stream coming out Elaine's ears as she condescendingly said "I suppose you kiss all your friends like that?" to which Gail happily replied against her better judgment, "No mother, these days Holly is the only friend I want to kiss."

Holly took a deep breath in as Elaine followed her eyes, and she slowly leaned in to Gail's ear and whispered "you realise you just said that out loud don't you?" and Gail silently nodded in acknowledgement.

"Merry Christmas!" someone shouted, before Dov stumbled out the front door and landed flat on his face, or rather he was pushed out the front door by Gail's father and landed on his face. Dov turned onto his back and pulled his Santa hat over his eyes and passed out almost immediately.

"Now if you don't mind mother, Holly and I are going to go grab a well needed coffee. I will be back tomorrow to help clean up," Gail said as she slowly moved past her mother and stepped carefully over Dov. Holly kindly smiled at Elaine as she followed suit. "Nice to meet you Superintendent" Holly said as she walked down the steps.

Holly had to run to catch up to Gail who was already halfway down the footpath. "By the way, I left your present under the tree inside" she said, as Gail put her hand into Holly's warm coat pocket. "I suppose you can pick it up tomorrow when you go back," she added, her hand now tightly around Gail's.

When Gail had reached the start of the footpath she had stopped suddenly. "So what did you get me? It's not coal is it?" She asked with a grin.

"I'm pretty sure that it's your mother who will be giving you coal for Christmas" Holly laughed and she rubbed both their icy hands together. "It's a book! It will go perfectly with the new coal you have for a fire, and no, I don't mean as kindling. So where is this coffee you speak of?"


End file.
